Alun Watkins

I am sure it was Alan Watkins, the journalist, who wrote of a very humorous incident involving a casket containing the remains of a fellow jourmalist - when you write "I am sure" it usually means you are not so sure. But I think it was by him. Anyway it was the sort of thing that would have happened to him and his ilk: drinkers/journalists. They had to bring the remains of this man from somewhere up north to his home down south, but on the way they stopped off for a few drinks, then more drinks, then more, forgot about the casket, left it in a pub and never saw it again. Good tale. Make a good story. But if I were to write it I'd end it with them buying another casket, filling it with ashes from the pub fireplace and bringing that back. Worthy of Joe Orton.
According to Ferdinand Mount in this week's Spectator, Watkins and he and a few other fellow jouranlists used to enjoy going to political party gatherings because they went by train and drank most of the way: they once cleared a train canteen of all its drinks - beer, wine and spirits, all gone. But Watkins noticed that on the top shelf there were a line of miniature bottles; so they downed them as well.
Alan Watkins wrote a piece about Meacher the labour MP asserting that he was not as working class as he maintained; that, on the contrary, Meacher was brought up in a fairly middle class home. Meacher took him to court and lost (never liked Meacher much anyway).
Another "case" which Watkins won - I am sure of this (meaning I may not be) - concerned Mrs Thatcher's Press Officer (what is his name?). Watkins said he had overheard the PO say something derogatory about French cheese, that a certain cheese carried dangerous bacteria - or some such thing. The PO denied he had said it but was proved a liar because he had been overheard by others saying the same thing.
I always enjoyed Alan Watkins's articles and may now read one of his books; the fall of Mrs Thatcher is supposed to be one of his best.
What I find difficult to believe is Mount saying that Watkins was often in the company of Auberon Waugh: Watkins was on the left and Waugh was on the right politically. But there, after all, they both liked a drop of the good stuff. Maybe Waugh drunk was bareable and maybe even good company. I used to know an actress who said she knew Waugh well. "Lovely man, Bron," she said.